


GENESIS

by shrimp



Series: P L A G U E [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Zombies, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, freckled jesus, muahaha, or maybe i do, there are relationships i just don't know which ones yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-12
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2018-01-08 11:19:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1132015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shrimp/pseuds/shrimp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seemingly overnight, humanity is stricken by a fast moving virus that attacks anyone in its path.  In the midst of it all, ten students fight to live, their friendships and allegiances tested as the disease grows ever stronger.</p><p>This is one of your typical Modern Zombie Apocalypse AUs, and I'm sure that some of this is pretty cheesy; you could probably serve it with a fine wine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Incident

**_BREAKING NEWS,_** the television blared, the vibrant reds and blues clashing against each other in a cacophony of light waves, making her squint as she sipped on her Earl Grey and looked up from her notes on floral remedies.  The news anchor looked as stoic as ever as she read off the teleprompter, and Kalura wondered if the anchor even cared about what she was announcing.  An advisory for all residents to be wary of sickness, that they should stay inside, that they should be careful of any airborne bacteria - they were being overdramatic, Kalura reasoned, her brow furrowing as she tried to decipher the small print that had been smattered onto the screen. _They should have hired a better graphic designer, I can barely even read thi-_

 

Someone knocked on the door, three quick, loud taps.

 

Kalura glanced at the clock.  _It's only three_ ; Eren and Mikasa wouldn't get home until five, and she wasn't expecting another patient until the next morning.  Who the entity standing outside her door was was a complete mystery.  It had to be someone in the building, she reasoned, otherwise they would have asked to be buzzed in.  So of course she wasn't worried.  She shouldn't be worried.  There was absolutely no reason to worry.  _So stop worrying_.

 

She peered out of the peephole before letting in her next door neighbors: the brunette looked exhausted, the bags dark and heavy around her eyes.  But the blonde looked worse, sweating and feverish, eyes darting this way and that, fingers fidgeting as they pulled and scratched at each other.  As calmly as she could, Kalura gestured for them to sit in the living room, heading towards the kitchen to get her patient a cup of water.  As she watched the water slosh into the glass, she heard the more lucid one call out to her.

 

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, but she suddenly came down with this fever and she's just not herself and we don't have the insurance to go to the hospital.  Could you help us?"

 

"There's no need to apologize, but I don't have any license to get medication; I specialize in herbal remedies."

 

"That's fine, anything helps, really."

 

She headed back into the living room, handing off the glass before getting the thermometer from the bathroom cupboard.

 

"When did the symptoms begin?"

 

"Um, this morning she had a fever and then a few hours ago she started having...  I don't know what you'd call it, a panic attack maybe?  She was freaking out and I had to calm her down and she's still not over it.  She's breathing really fast and she's sweating a lot, if that helps."

 

"Any information is good information - what do you think caused it?"

 

"I have no idea.  We went out to eat yesterday, maybe she has some sort of food poisoning?"

 

"Did anything else happen?"

 

"Not much else.  Um, some guy did spit at us while we were on the bus but that was the only thing out of the ordinary.  Well, kind of out of the ordinary."

 

Kalura just nodded.

 

"Okay, Alice, I'm just going to take your temperature, okay?"

 

Alice didn't respond, but her free hand gripped the loveseat like her life depended on it.  Kalura could hear the raspy breathing, the scratching sound of nails against fabric, the soft, guttural growl uttered from Alice's vocal chords- what?  Kalura glanced at Alice's partner (she never was able to remember her name) out of the corner of her eye and what she saw was true fear emanating from every facial feature:  blanched skin, widened eyes, a soft frown etched on her face.

 

"Sweetheart, it's okay.  She's just going to help?"  The tension in the room turned thick and bitter as Kalura's hand inched closer and closer to Alice's ear, the thermometer mere millimeters from her face when suddenly Alice whipped her head around and bit as hard as she could, the white-hot agony sprinting through Kalura's nervous system as she screamed and ripped her hand away, drops of red splattering onto the wood floor.  Kalura backed up against the wall, left hand clutching the wound on her right as Alice sprang up from the seat, smashing the glass into her lover's face, tackling her to the floor, squeezing the life out of her fiancé with her bare hands.  The room, which a minute ago had been so quiet, so serene, was flooded with shrieks of rage and fear and the only thing Kalura was able to do was sprint into the bathroom and lock the door, sliding down against the wood as she stared in horror at the bite marks, trying to erase the image of the monster from her mind. 

 

Her phone was still on the coffee-table.  Eren and Mikasa were supposed to be home in two hours.  There was a corpse on the floor and a murderer loose in her house.  Few things truly terrified Kalura; she was strong, and she was brave, but not this brave, when there was a monster pounding at the bathroom door with all her strength, when the only thing separating the two was a too-thin piece of wood.  The tears streamed down her cheeks, the ugly sobs ricocheting off the bathroom walls.

 

_I can't let her stay, she'll kill them._

 

But there was nothing to be done; the opportunity had been locked away.  Now there was nothing to do but wait and hope and pray and beg for some sense of salvation that she doubted would ever come.

 

* * *

 

The apartment was in shambles when they walked in; the drapes were ripped and the chairs were overturned and the television was broken, the glass scattered across the floor.

 

"Stay here," Eren told Mikasa as he slowly stepped inside. 

 

Mikasa being Mikasa did no such thing.  She grabbed the nearest thing she saw - the fire extinguisher - as she followed him deeper into the rubble.  The refrigerator had been opened, its contents scattered, the mayonnaise left open on the floor.  There was no sign of the creature - for it couldn't have been a person who did all of this, could it? - that had resided mere hours (minutes?  seconds?) ago; there was no sign that the intruder was still there. 

 

There was however, a body on the floor.  Her eyes were bulged, her mouth stretched open in a silent scream, her hands limp at her side.  If nothing else, the dark purple bruises around her neck were an indication that something terrible had clearly happened here.  _Where's Mom_ , Eren thought, and immediately images of his mother stabbed in the heart - _no_ \- choked to death like the body before him - _no_ \- neck broken from the sheer pressure put upon it  -

 

"Call the police," Mikasa whispered, and Eren quickly grabbed his phone and rushed outside, his panicked gasps audible from across the room.

 

"Mom?"  Mikasa called out.  No response.  Slowly, she stepped around the body, making her way to the master bedroom ("Hello?  911 I have to report - oh shit I don't even know oh god - it's a murder and I think it's a robbery and I don't know if the murderer is still even in the apartment-"), hands wrapped around the metal container.  She peeked her head in to see a figure crouched on the ground, its blonde hair stained red ("The address, yeah the address is-").  It looked up at her and Mikasa's eyes widened ("Please, _hurry_.").

 

 _A person.  Oh my god it's a person_.

 

Slowly the monster stood up, her hands bloody and lungs wheezing, a cluster of mixed up words audible as it crept closer and closer.  Her fingers twitched, her pupils dilated, her mouth warped into a snarl.  And then she pounced, a scream piercing Mikasa's ear drums.  She heard Eren curse and sprint towards the sound, but there was no time, no time to duck no time to do anything but attack back.

 

Mikasa swung as hard as she could, smacking the monster on the side of the head with a _crack_.  She barely realizing that she was screaming or that she hadn't stopped swinging until her voice was hoarse and the blood-soaked hand had stopped twitching on the ground.  Mikasa opened her eyes to see that the woman's skull was bashed in, blood and brain matter splattered across the carpet, on the bed sheets, on the fire extinguisher, on Mikasa's jeans.  Shaking, she stepped back, dropping the extinguisher on the ground.

 

"Oh fuck."  Eren's exclamation and subsequent hand on her shoulder did nothing to ease the storm racing through her mind.  She had killed someone - _she had killed someone -_ sure it was in self-defense but she had taken the life out of their eyes.  _I had to do it I had to I had to she was going to kill me she was going to kill Eren I **had**_ **_to._** Eren's grasp turned into an embrace as he hugged her from behind, the two of them staring at the aftermath. 

 

Outside, sirens blared, but they heard none of it.  The only thing they did hear was the screams.

 

They would never go away, would they.

 


	2. Crop Circles in the Carpet

It’s hard for Armin to believe that it’s two in the morning; the building’s far too busy too loud too jam-packed and it seems like more people are streaming in minute by minute.  He adjusts his face mask before cautiously entering the lobby, teeming with pale faces, both doctors and patients alike.  _Something’s not right here_.  When Eren had frantically texted him at midnight, Armin knew that something was up, but nothing like this.

 

“Excuse me, I’m looking for a Kalura Jäger,” he tell the nurse at the receptionist desk, knowing that he probably won’t be allowed to actually see her.  But before the nurse can tell him to go fuck off, a hand grips his wrist and he quickly turns, his shoulder length hair accidentally whipping his best friend in the face.

 

“Eren,” he whispers.  His friend looks worse for the wear, hair greasy and sticking out this way and that, eyes pink and puffy.  His bottom lip trembles ever so slightly and Armin is silently led through the ER to one of the beds squished against the wall.   He sees Mikasa’s silhouette before Mrs. Jäger – she’s slumped over in her chair, head resting on her mother’s bed, her thin frame seemingly smaller now, more fragile.

 

Mrs. Jäger’s forehead is glossy, shining with the beads of sweat that have begun to form.  Her breaths are slightly labored but for now she’s asleep, mother and daughter are both out for the day.

 

“They talked to us for hours and then they brought us here,” Eren mutters, not bothering to sweep away the bangs that have begun to hang in front of his eyes.  Every part of him is shaking, and it’s clear that he hasn’t even slept since this ordeal began.  Armin doesn’t know _what_ happened, truth be told; Eren just told him – no – pleaded for him to come.  So Armin asks quietly, as not to wake up the girls sleeping next to them.  Eren sighs once, then pulls him deeper into the hospital until they wind up in a deserted part of the hallway.  He brings his left hand to his temple, massaging his forehead and breathing deeply before starting.

 

“I don’t know man – we went back home and the place was just – god, it looked like some creature had gotten in and trashed the place.  And then we went further in and there was one of our neighbors on the ground except she was dead.  You met her before, you know, one of the lesbian couple that you plowed into last week when you got off the elevator.”

 

“Wait, Eren, what?  She was…  She was dead?  In your apartment?”

 

“Yeah.  Mikasa told me to call the police and so I did but while I was talking to them there was a scream and then the next thing I knew – _fuck_ , Armin.  She just jumped at Mikasa and if Mikasa hadn’t done what she did she would have probably been in the same state as Mom or worse-“

 

“Eren, what happened?  You can tell me.”

 

The silence is deafening. 

“Mikasa hit her with the fire extinguisher.  And then just kept hitting her and the woman just kept trying and trying and trying to attack her but then she stopped moving and then there was so much blood just so, so much…”  Eren’s voice trailed off and when he looked back up at his friend there were tears pouring down his cheeks.  “Oh god, Armin.  It was…  It was…  She was going to kill her unless Mikasa did it first.  And the police, they just kept asking and asking and asking-“  he broke off with a loud sniff, his head hung low, his fists clenched in anger – no, that wasn’t it - _frustration_ as he could do nothing, _nothing_ , to make any of this better. 

 

Eren Jäger was many things.  He was headstrong and easily angered, stubborn with too much pride on his shoulders.  But anyone would know, especially the blond-haired boy in front of him, that he always did whatever he could to protect his family.  And now even that was taken away from him, with his mother lying listless in a hospital bed and his sister having to deal with the guilt of murder, even if it was in self-defense.  There was nothing he could do, nothing that could be done to ease the pain besides saying “it will get better” or “it’s not your fault” and that just wasn’t good enough.

 

When the two were awake, he had been all smiles, getting them food from the hospital cafeteria as they were questioned by the police, holding Mikasa’s hand as the blood tests came in and the doctor looked increasingly worried with frustrated exhalations hidden under breaths, holding his mother’s hand when the doctor finally owned up to his bullshit and told her there wasn’t much he could do.  But he could only hold that mask up for so much longer – by now it had begun to degrade, and it disintegrated the moment that Armin wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace.

 

They stayed like that for a while, Eren’s sobs wracking his body as he trembled and shook, his hands grasping at the back of Armin’s sweater as if his life depended on it.  Armin said nothing, rubbing Eren’s back with his right hand, chin nestled in the crook of Eren’s neck. 

 

“I’m scared, Armin.”

 

“I know.  It will get better, okay?”

 

 

 

“I don’t want her to die, Armin.”

 

“I know.”

 

 

 

“They’re gonna pay for this.”

 

“I know.”

 

* * *

 

They moved her mother to a closed room when the sun had been lingering in the sky; she had woken up to hallucinations and the doctors hadn’t wanted her to scare the other patients.  Eren followed them into the room, every step of the way.  Mikasa and Armin stayed outside the doorway, their backs against the wall.  She hadn’t spoken the entire time he had been there; her right thumb caressing her left, her eyes glazed over and staring into space.  In fact, she had only glanced at him once, when she had awoken to see his coat wrapped around her shoulders.  It still rested there; she wouldn’t let it go, he never asked her to.

 

The clock in the room reminded her too much of the one in their home, ticking away as she stepped closer and closer towards the door, closer and closer towards the woman crouched out of sight with stained hands and strange words slithering out of her mouth who stared at her, frightened for the shortest of seconds until she lunged with that garbled scream-

 

_Stop.  Don’t think about it._   She sighed, running her hand through her hair.  Hair, hair, blonde hair, blonde hair dappled with red blonde hair dappled with red and splayed on the ground in a halo, slowly turning burgundy from the liquid seeping out from the floor- **_Stop_** _._ She closed her eyes, but the last time she did that her dreams had turned into nightmares with blonde hair that wrapped itself around her neck and tightened until she was lifted up into the air, gasping for breath with her hands weakly grasping, pulling for any release from the torture.  So she quickly opened them again.

 

She couldn’t look at Armin, not now.  His hair reminded her too much of the body that had kept fighting back, that had twitched and twitched and twitched.  They had even tied it in a similar way, like some elven hairdo from Lord of the Rings.  It was too meticulous, too perfect, such a contrast from the lunatic that had attacked her yesterday afternoon.

 

When they left the apartment, her mother’s Earl Grey had still been on the coffee-table, barely touched save for the speckles of red on the china; the last time Mikasa asked, the doctors wouldn’t let Kalura Jäger have any tea.  Mikasa doubted that her mother would ever be able to drink Earl Grey ever again.  But she would never tell Eren that, although she suspected that even he had realized this by now.

 

She only realized that Armin had left when he tapped her on the shoulder, a coffee cup in his hand.  She glanced at him for a second, before gently taking the cup from his hands.  _I’m sorry I’m sorry I just can’t right now you would understand_.  She knew that he had tried to smile, so she tried to grin back with some weird halfhearted attempt at allaying fears that only seemed to create even more of them.  She took a sip of the liquid:  _Earl Grey._

 

“I’m going to the bathroom,” she muttered, walking away as quickly as she could.  When he was out of view she dropped the cup into the nearest wastebasket and entered the bathroom, splashing water on her face, not bothering to look up at the mirror.  She knew she looked like hell, there was no way getting around that.  She had changed since she had gotten to the hospital (the police had forced her to give them her clothes on grounds of being evidence) but she still felt dirty, still felt like she was caked in blood and guts and gore of a woman who had once told her good morning every time they went down the elevator together.  She stood there for an eternity, hands resting on the bathroom counter, eyes staring at the faucet.  _Deep breaths_ , she told herself.  _He didn’t mean it, he didn’t know that Mom drinks it he only knows that I like it, that’s all._

 

Armin didn’t know that Mikasa only liked Earl Grey because she was too accustomed to it, that when she was ten if she got up early enough her mother would make them both a cup of Earl Grey and they would watch cartoons or a talk show or even the home shopping network (“Mom, can we get that hamburger stuffer thing?”  “No, Mikasa”).  Whenever they went to a café, Mikasa ordered Earl Grey for two reasons:  One, out of convenience – she didn’t know about most other teas.  Two, because maybe, just maybe, she wanted to feel as elegant and classy as her mother always had been.  Has been.

 

She doesn’t even know which tense to use anymore, which tense she even _wants_ to use anymore.

 

She wipes the tears from her eyes, which stubbornly refuse to fall but are still weak enough to form on her eyelashes.  She checks her phone, just to make sure that Historia would send her the organic chemistry notes, before heading back down the hallway.

_From Historia Reiss:  Of course!  I hope that you’re feeling better soon c:_

 

_From Historia Reiss:  Ymir and I could drop them off at your apt. later today?_

 

_From Historia Reiss:  Marco’s out sick too, poor bby.  Flu season is awful :c_

 

_From Micasa EsSuCasa:  Plz don’t go out of your way – I’ll pick them up tomorrow before class starts?_

 

_From Historia Reiss:  ok!  See you tomorrow! ^^ <3_

When she returns, Armin pretends not to notice that she doesn't bring the tea back with her.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s an hour later when even Eren is forced out of the room and it becomes closed to everyone except the doctors.  His facial expression says it all – they’re losing her, and quickly too.  From outside they can hear her screeching, the doctor and nurses yelling, the metal clattering onto the floor.  Mikasa buries her head in Eren’s shoulder, Eren’s hand instinctively grabs Armin’s arm as the three of them stare at the closed door, eyes wide with horror.  There’s one more high-pitched shriek and then silence.

 

It hurts to breathe, it hurts to think everything just hurts and Mikasa’s finally lost it, silent tears streaming down her face, soaking into Eren’s sweater.  About ten minutes pass as they stand on the other side of the hallway, and the door slowly swings open and the doctor and three nurses stumble out.  Three of them sprint down the hallway, but one remains, her platinum hair looking stark white in the cold hospital lighting.  She’s panting, her glasses are broken and she steadies herself against the doorframe.  The nurse – Rico, based on her nameplate – only notices that they are there after Mikasa lets out an abnormally loud hiccup.

 

“You’re her kids, correct?”

 

They nod.

 

“Okay.  She’s sleeping now, we had to sedate her.  She put up a fight – bit one of the nurses but she’s good now.  You’re good.  She’s good.  We’re all good.”

 

Her eyes betray her words, which weren’t particularly comforting to begin with.  As she leaves, walking briskly after the others, the three of them head into the room, staring in horror at the toppled over cart and the and the red droplets on the curtain and the blood that softly trickles down their mother’s mouth, dripping off of her chin and down her neck.  Armin adjusts his face mask.  Eren tugs at his sleeve.  Mikasa stares at her hands.

 

“I can't stay here,”  one of them whispers.

 

They turn and leave, walking away from the woman who raised them, who took them to karate lessons and was stronger than most when her husband left, who fought from the bottom to provide and succeed.  They run from the woman who drank Earl Grey late at night with the bedroom light on and early in the morning when the dark had not yet fled and at three in the afternoon, when the windows were drawn open to let the sunlight in, for she is no longer that woman.

 

They don't know what she is anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly I don't really write action (or dialogue) well; I'm much better at internal angst. So I'm hoping that this was much better than the first chapter, which in hindsight was pretty choppy and fast-paced and just kinda ugh x'Dx I did write that at 3 AM though, this one was finished at about 11:30 PM.
> 
> I'm trying, guys. It'll get better. Please bear with me.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So this is my first fanfiction - normally I just RP so this is definitely something new!  
> I did not ever picture myself writing about Zombies  
> but hey it's happening  
> i'm excited.  
> yaaaaaaaaaaay~
> 
> Chapter 2 is hopefully coming soon - thanks so much for reading! I think this is going to be the first part of a three part series (hence the name Genesis haha i'm so original psssssssh). If there's any comments or concerns or anything don't hesitate to let me know!


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